Advantages: Improving steadily
Disadvantages: Prone to employee problems, poor standard regional trains

...At 26 years old, I am one of the few people my age that can't drive. I rely heavily on public transport and have done ever since I went to university. That's when my experiences with Arriva Trains Northern started - all of 6 years ago this summer. Here is my competition entry opinion, starting with a bit of company background ---Background--- Arriva Trains Northern (ATN) secured their franchise from Northern Spirit in 1997 and run local and transpennine services across Yorkshire and the North of England. They claim to operate around 1,400 services every day, 1,000 of which pass through Leeds City Station. They claim to cover around 80,000 miles every day on a network which stretches from Hull and Scarborough on the East Coast across to Blackpool, Liverpool, and Manchester on the West Coast, and from Carlisle and Sunderland... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Acceptable when the service is running properly, new trains soon, new information system soon, frequency
Disadvantages: Delays, dated trains, peak hours, patronising, see stories section

...South West Trains (SWT) operate services between London Waterloo and the South West of England; reaching places like Reading, Exeter, and Southampton etc, it also runs a suburban network through south west London… I’ve been travelling one the “Reading” line for almost 4 years now, and this is what I think of them, I can only speak on behalf of this line, there is a chance I could mislead you on the general picture… ••The Consuming facts •The reliability of the service In one word, I think it has been awful, I have traveled on SWT for almost 4 years and the percentage of times I have been on time (i.e. no later than 3 minutes later than the advertised arrival time) about 75% of the time, is this acceptable? I think your opinion is as valid as mine. I have had my train cancelled 4... Read review

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Advantages: You eventually get to your destination.
Disadvantages: Over crowding, often late, difficult staff.

...I have recently had a VERY bad experience with Arriva trains Wales, so I am sorry if this review sounds a little "ranting". I will try and deliver a fair and balanced review of their services. Firstly a little information about Arriva trains Wales. Arriva trains Wales took control of the franchise previously operated by Wales & Borders Trains on 7 December 2003. They have a fleet of aprox. 116 trains. Their route covers over 2,600 miles and they employ 1,860 members of staff. They also operate around 780 services a day on weekdays. Their website states that they are trying to achieve reliable train services, clean, attractive stations, good quality levels of information, local, effective, caring management and helpful, friendly employees. The URL of their website is: http://www.arrivatrainswales.co.uk. The website is in both Welsh... Read review

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Advantages: Aids early construction skills
Disadvantages: none

...Baby's first train. Trains fascinate children and adults alike. Whether it's the fast new trains or the old steam trains which hold that piece of magic. We have train museums, old steam train railways lines and events. There are model railways designed and played with for and by adults. Most of us and our children will have had some sort of train toy during childhood. Many manufacturers make toy trains. A toy train that I have played with recently alongside a child I hasten to add is the Lego baby train number 5463. Lego Baby is the largest of the Lego range. First available as Lego baby in 2005 It used to be called Lego primo or Duplo primo. These bricks are designed for babies from 6 to 18 months. The train is recommended for children ages 1year and over. These bricks are 4 times the size of duplo eight times ordinary Lego... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Good Staff, Gets you from A to B
Disadvantages: poor facilities and conditions. Very old fashioned and needs improving fast!

...After reading many opinions from other people regarding South West Trains, i have to agree with the people who havent given the SW Trains a good rating because they are very poor at the moment. From when i was a small kid (about 10 yrs ago) i hardly ever went on trains but when i did i used to love it and always wanted to be a train driver. Well havent those years changed my opinion drastically. Having been to a number of stations i feel that many train stations such as Southampton Central are becoming rather old fashioned and are really in need of a make over. With Southampton offering very few seating places for the public (such as around 2/3 benches for each platform) i feel that with many delays etc it would be better for the train users to have more seating facilities. Also the prices for coffee, food at several stations... Read review

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Advantages: Lots of different types of training
Disadvantages: Speech recognition/microphone isnt great, Dr Kawashimas comments can get a bit annoying

...This is probably one of the most well known/recognised and advertised Nintendo DS 'games' released so far, although I'm not sure if I'd strictly describe it as being a game. I had been pretty curious to see if it could improve my brain (and memory) after seeing the TV ads for it, I finally got around to buying myself it back in March. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training is a 'game' which consists of a number of different training mini-'games' or training exercises to get your brain flow moving and it logs your progress by assessing how quickly these mini-'games' or training exercises are completed and relating that back in terms of speeds (walking speed being the slowest, then there's faster ones like 'driving speed' each 'speed' is shown with a picture of whatever was described (someone walking or a car) moving across the screen... Read review

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Advantages: Large network
Disadvantages: Sometimes a poor service

...Central Trains are their own worst enemy. They provide train services from Shrewsbury to Nottingham via Birmingham and also to East Anglia. They have provided train services for a long time. So how come they still have not got it right, yet? Central Trains is the cause of many phone calls to consumer radio programmes in the Midlands. And you often hear a spokesman or spokeswoman coming up with some explanation as to why they have managed to mess things up, again. One of the problems that face passengers of Central Trains is the fact that Central Trains seems unable to understand that, sometimes, people become ill and have to 'phone in sick. Of course, it would not be possible (sadly!) to go back to the days when spare staff would wait at strategic locations around the British Rail network, waiting to cover for colleagues who had... Read review

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Advantages: Great fun, good for your brain
Disadvantages: Time consuming and addictive!

...For Christmas, my dad and I each got a Nintendo DS (Dual Screen) Lite and we each got a Brain Training game for Christmas. I got the first one and my dad got this one. You can save up to four data files on the DS game so I have been using it most days. I prefer this one to the Brain Training, as the features are more interesting. Dr Kawashima Dr Ryuta Kawashima was born in 1959 in Japan, and is a neuroscientist. In 2003, he wrote "Train Your Brain: 60 Days to a Better Brain" which was a huge success in Japan and was later released worldwide. In 2005, it was turned in to the first brain training game for the DS and this sequel was later released. Instead of accepting the royalties from the games for himself, he has built two laboratories. There is a cartoon image of Dr Kawashima and it is a speech bubble from his mouth... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: can be cheap, less stressful than driving
Disadvantages: can be expensive, fellow passengers can be a pain

...I imagine few people have not travelled on Virgin Trains as they cover much of the length and breadth of the UK Virgin trains are half owned by Virgin (the bearded one) and Stagecoach, the bus operator which also runs South West Trains, and which expanded when the UK bus industry was sold of at knock down prices They do not own the track and do not own the trains, these are leased from people like the Bank of Scotland At this stage into their franchise, they should have been paying the Government for their concession, but they are negotiating an ever-increasing subsidy from the taxpayer. Some commentators are saying that for all intents and purposes they are back in public control VT has two networks, West Coast which links Glasgow/Manchester/Liverpool/Brirmingham and other major cities to London, and Cross-Country which has... Read review

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Advantages: cheaper than brio
Disadvantages: nearly as good as brio

...Tesco wooden train set. Imagine a little boy kneeling on the floor his head down and his fair hair shining he is saying chooo choo brrrrrrrrrmmmmmm . This boy call him Adrian is so involved in his train set he is pushing the wooden trains around and joining carriages and trucks to the engine. He reaches into the plastic tub we store the train set in for another piece of track it is wooden track this piece is a straight section. Adrian fits this section in it fits with ends like a jigsaw piece mmm that's not right , he reaches for a curved piece with trying to fit this he makes his circle bigger now he sits on floor head down bottom in the air chooooooooo choooooooo Adrian is now trying to fit a bridge in the track so that his trains can go over and her can push a car under it. The wooden train set Adrian is playing... Read review

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